1) No elf on our shelf, by Lee Hull Moses. “My family celebrates Christmas with a mix of Jesus and Santa Claus. But there is one story we don't tell.”

2)The Hunger Games contradiction. by Janet Potter. “The book's message is fundamentally anti-violence, and its first half introduces the Games as the unjust, inescapable instrument of exploitation they are. Whatever, kill them all, Katniss!”

3) The morning communion rush, by Amy Frykholm. “When John Wesley sent missionaries to America, he said simply, ‘Offer them Christ.’ That's what the Chicago Temple sees itself doing, no questions asked.”

4) Decoration Day, by Benjamin J. Dueholm. “There's a danger in making veterans into secular saints. The saints don’t need us to give their deaths meaning; they died fully rewarded.”

5) Bad words in the pulpit, by Bromleigh McCleneghan. “I did what I felt called to do. I preached a Lenten sermon on birth control and standing up for those without a voice. Also: I used the word ‘slut.””

6) Renaming the mainline, by Amy Frykholm. “ I have long disliked both the terms ‘liberal’ and ‘mainline’ to refer to whatever-kind-of-Protestant it is that I am. But ‘ecumenical’ has its problems, too. What would you call it?”

7) All is not calm; all is not bright, by Ashley-Anne Masters. “Those of us in violence-plagued neighborhoods look forward to winter's reprieve. Our teenagers understand Advent waiting all too well.”

8) Structure and power, by Bromleigh McCleneghan. “The current United Methodist structure is unwieldy and confusing. But its structure is also its strength.”

9) All the bad people, by David Heim. “This New York Times story would make for a good spot quiz in a Lutheran confirmation class. Identify the theological problem in the following report.”

10) Losing weight at church, by Colin Mathewson. “It’s hard not to feel a bit envious of Saddleback Church’s diet plan. What can mainline churches learn?”

11) Do something! But what? by Laura Jean Torgerson. “The Kony video went viral because young people are open to being moved by compassion. I have to celebrate that. But how do you inspire people to care? What story do you tell?”

12) Getting behind Jesus—again, by Phyllis Kersten. “The whole time I was with her, Merlyn was lying in bed with her face turned away from me. I prayed, and I left. It didn't take a brain surgeon to figure out that I hadn't ‘connected’ with her.”